Browse these pages to learn more about the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (www.ical.manchester.ac.uk) at the University of Manchester. This blog is written and regularly updated by palaeobiologist Professor Phil Manning (STFC Science in Society Fellow).
The images on this blog can be used by educators for talks, classroom and new media projects.
You can also follow Phil on Twitter @DrPhilManning

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

The Auction...

The fate of the Duelling Dinosaurs has still to be decided. The Auction room was crowded, maybe too crowded. I was present at the auction to document the sale of the fossils for a documentary. The international press sat alongside us, squeezed between fossils and bidders. This was my first auction...a strange experience to the uninitiated. As the auctioneer started the sale, I felt my eyes suddenly drawn to the floor, in slight fear that a simple smile or gesture might land me with an impossibly large bill from Bonham's. As each prehistoric lot appeared on the plasma screens, I found myself watching those bidding and not the fossil lots. Each person was there for their own reasons, some for the spectacle, others to acquire and many just to see the fate of the auctions namesake, the Duelling Dinosaurs.

International Media squash together to watch the auction at Bonham's...

The said auction lot came into play. Looking around the auction house, it was clear all eyes were now focussed upon the auctioneer. Within seconds the initial bid had gone from 5 to 5.5 million dollars...two people were bidding from the audience. Everyone was straining to see who had placed the bids, but no sooner had they been placed....silence. The auctioneer scanned the room, searching for a higher bid...and none came forth.

The reserve on the combative couple was not met. The saga of the Duelling Dinosaurs that began with their discovery in 2006 remains unresolved. Whether these fossils find a home in a museum, remains to be seen...I shall endeavour to follow the story of these remarkable fossils.

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Dr Phil Manning

Dr. Phil Manning is Professor of Natural History and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (www.ical.manchester.ac.uk) at the University of Manchester (UK) and is
also a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History (New York)
and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). In January 2014 he was elected a
Fellow of the Explorer’s Club. Dr. Manning’s research is both broad and interdisciplinary
with active research topics including: biomechanics, geochemistry and elemental
analysis (particularly specialising in synchrotron-based imaging techniques),
application of LiDAR-based imaging to both landscape and skeletal modelling, high-performance
computing work, mechanical analysis of biomaterials (both extant and extinct),
finite element analysis and imaging. Dr. Manning and his team have worked
extensively in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota and Montana, but their
field program also includes sites in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Cayman Islands.

Dr. Manning plays an active role in science outreach,
contributing to open-days, lectures, workshops, fieldwork, etc. He has authored
both children and popular science books and is a regular contributor to public
speaking programs around the world, promoting the public engagement of science.
In 2013 Dr. Manning was appointed as the Science and Technology Research
Council (STFC) Science in Society Fellow, so as to promote science and
technology to as wide an audience as possible.